Week
37
drawing for the BladeForums.com 20th Anniversary Year of Giveaways live stream going on from 5-6PM eastern!! Tune in to our YouTube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/TheRealBladeforums, we'll be drawing winners for BladeForums.com merchandise & the grand prize:
a
Sabol Brothers Kiridashi
, along with BladeForums branded gear!

Additional prize(s) will be awarded to people in the livestream chat, so watch for your chance to win bonus prize(s)

Marathon Watch (based in Canada for decades) provides premium Swiss-made mil-spec watches to the armed forces of at least three countries ... Canada, the United States, and Israel. I have two ... the GPQ and the medium TSAR quartz diver. Solid stuff ...

But they also have a couple of cool little compasses. I have this one, and think it's great. Rugged and accurate and great "lume" and a jewelled bearing and no liquid damping to develop a bubble ... and inexpensive ... it's sold on Amazon and a mil-spec Marathon nylon strap is included in the price. And the strap alone is about the same price.

It's a very similar design to the Suunto Clipper except the Suunto is liquid-damped and the Marathon isn't. The Marathon also has a jewelled pivot, like the Suunto. I suspect that the Suunto is more water-friendly ... I read this Q & A on the REI website ...

aceinthecorner · 4 years ago
Is this waterproof or water resistant, or do I need to worry about taking it off every time I suspect it might get wet?
1
answer
Answer the question
REIservice · 4 years ago
The Clipper L-B NH Compass is waterproof. Suunto does not recommend submerging the compass in more than 2 meters of water.​

The fact that the Suunto Clipper it is liquid-damped (fluid-filled) with (probably) some kind of incompressible light oil would make it inexpensively waterproof ... basic physics ...

This might be a good place to mention that Long Island Watch (a very highly regarded online dealer down in the Excited States) has an excellent selection of nylon NATO straps that would work for the Marathon and Suunto compasses ... keeping them away from the possible effects of an adjacent/nearby metal watch. The basic ones are flawless and cost just $9.95 ... but they also offer a variety of gorgeous ones upgraded to a softer/thicker seatbelt webbing for just $14.95. I have three of each to use on my Seiko SKX and couldn't be happier. (I carefully modded two of them into basic single straps ... with the bottom section removed completely and the main strap cut to length and with just one "keeper" ... right beside the buckle.)

But here's the best part for us Canadians ... Long Island Watch charges a flat rate of $5 for Post Office shipping to Canada, Australia, and Europe. That's awesome!

Edit: I should have kept my mouth shut about the awesome $5 shipping charge. It was doubled to $10 around the beginning of June ... a month after I made this post.

I'll give another endorsement to Tru Nord. Like the other poster from years back most liquid damped compasses I've had get the damned bubble, including a couple of Marble's. I got a Tru Nord pin on and haven't looked back. Not cheap but excellent quality. I had min adjusted to split the difference between the southeast and the upper midwest (UP) where I mostly hunt. Splitting the difference (only a couple of degrees) is plenty accurate enough for a pin on which I glance at to keep me in general orientation in the woods.

If I need anything more accurate than that I have a Suunto orienteering compass in my shirt pocket. Until it gets the bubble...

Whoa! Nice collection!!
Funny thing is a lot of current sellers use the same exact Ali Express compass and then build their product around it.
I always wanted a NATO (#4) compass and a Tru Nord or two. Suunto Clipper is a solid choice at a good price.